Left behind
by Marcelle Hvidsteen
Summary: What if there had been a ninth digidestined. Someone that was left behind. Season one and two


**A/N: For mangagirl18. Hope you like it :)**

--

The bell over the door echos through the little diner. I look up and smile when I see the beauty standing in the door. I wave my arm so she can see me, and she return my smile before walking over to the little booth. I take her hand and kiss it, just for a second, and Kari laughs.

"Stop fooling around T.K."

"I don't know, you never know when Davis will follow you."

Of ocurse it's an act. I love Kari, and she loves me, but not like Davis and some other people think. A brief moment of sadness covers her eyes.

"What's wrong?"

She looks down and start to cry. I wrap my arms around her and let her. There could be hundreds of things that would make her act like that, and I just have to wait. Patamon and Gatomon come over to our booth, they had been sitting by the window, and Gatomon give me a handkerchief. I turn to Gatomon.

"What's wrong?"

"Hien."

My heart stops beating for a moment. Hien, the lost digidestined. We never talked about her to anyone. How do you tell the world that there was a digidestined who sacrificed her life? We were kids, and when they turned it into a commodity we chose not to mention her out of fear and respect. But since we came back Tai have had one week out of the year were he isn't himself. I guess it's that time of the year.

Finally Kari stops crying and dries her eyes.

"Is he that bad?"

"I called Matt. I'm afraid of letting him be alone. He and Agumon had a fight."

"Hey, if someone can handel him it's Matt, and he and Agumon will make up. They always do."

Kari nods and gives me a little smile, but I can see she is scared. Of course having Tai now able to drink can't be a good thing. I get up.

"Lets talk to Izzi and Joe. Maybe they have an idea?"

Kari nods and grab my hand. We walk out of the diner, my arm protectively around her shoulder and Patamon and Gotmon walking in front of us. They no longer need to hide.

--

Mimi, Matt and Sora, and their respective digimon, were there already, down in Izzi's lab, when we walk in. The same thing on all of their mind. Sora rise as we walk in and hugs Kari. This makes Kari start to cry again.

"Is it that bad?"

One look from Matt and I know. It's strange. Hien has always been our secret, but I start to wonder if we are big enough for it. The doorbell, before Ken and Wormmon enteres with a disk. We haven't even told the other digidestined.

"Here's the disk Izzi... Who died?"

We all share a look before looking at him. He waits, but since no one says anything he just shrugs and walks through the room, placing the disk on the table when he looks at the screen. I hadn't even noticed that a picture of Hien was displayed.

"Wow, I haven't seen her in a while."

This makes all of us look at him in shock and disbelief. Hien died long before Ken entered the digital world. He couldn't have seen her. He couldn't. In two short steps is Matt hovering over him and even I'm a bit taken back by his intensity.

"You've seen her before? You've seen Hien?"

"When I was trying to take over the digital world. She defended a small portion of land that I never got a hold of, but she never tired to fight me. Why? Who is she?"

It's Mimi who answers.

"She was a member of the original digidestined. She died to protect us."

"I'm sure it's the same person, or at least she looked like it. I wouldn't have forgotten that face."

Me.

"We only were in the occupied territories."

Matt grabs Ken's arm and points to the screen where the map over the digital world is.

"Where?"

Matt shakes him when Ken don't answer right away. Sora walks over and grabs his free arm. This makes him calm down and let go of Ken. Matt turns to her.

"If that's her..."

"If it's Hien we should go and talk to her, but if she is alive she has chosen not to contact us."

Ken points to a spot on the screen. We all share a moment before Izzi pushes the right buttons and we're all taken to the digiworld.

--

It's a small wooden cottage on a green field. In the background, behind a small patch of vegetables, a lake is mirroring the sky. Kari grabs my hand and I squeeze it reassuringly. In front of the house are two digimon playing, a smal biyomon and a tapirmon. The look up at us and the biyomon fly toward us, landing a few feet away and raising it's wings like a stance of something.

"Don't come any closer. I know ka-tate."

I can't help but laugh, and is silenced by a smiling Kari. The entier mood has suddenly changed. Tapirmon comes up behind him.

"It's pronounced karate, and no you can't."

"But they don't know that."

"Since you can't even say it properly I think they can guess it."

"Saying it right isn't the same as knowing it."

Tapirmon shakes his head and turnes to us.

"This is private property, to get back on the tour you need to turn around and walk for about ten minutes then take a right. There are signes."

Joe

"We're not a part of a tour, we were wondering if there's a woman named Hien living here."

The two digmon look at one another. Tapirmon turns to us again.

"What do you want with her?"

Sora

"We're old friends of hers."

"What's going on?"

It's easy to recognise the ten year old girl in the nineteen year old woman. Her hair is even blonder and her eyes are still green and glowing.

"She's beautiful."

Kari's voice is just a whisper, and I'm suddenly reminded that Kari never met Hien personally. She died as Kari was introduced as the eight digidestined. Behind her I finally see that the crest of kindness is painted on the wall. She looks at us for a moment, scared and confused. Then she smiles.

"Nice to see you again."

No one moves. I guess we didn't plan this all that well. Then suddenly Mimi reacs, with Sora just behind her. The two girls run toward the girl and hugs her. Hien hugs them back and all three starts to laugh. It surprise me, that after so long the three girls could be so close just like that. Even after two of them believing the third was dead. Suddenly the rest of us seemed to wake up two. Joe and Izzi walk over and she smils to them and started to talk. The only people not to talk to her is Ken, who didn't think it was any of his business, Kari, for the same reason, me to keep Kari with company and Matt, who is shaking. His fists clinched.

"You're suppose to be dead. We saw you die. We mourned you."

"I was reborn, when the digital world was reborn."

"Interesting. When we were transformed into data, they must have made a copy or a back up. Like when documents on a computer automatically gets backed up before they are saved."

Izzi, of course.

"Why didn't you contact us?" (Sora)

"I don't have a digivice."

"But the portal is open now. You don't need one." (Mimi)

"You still need one. Everyone just have one now. Except me."

She has tears in her eyes. I still remember how heartbroken she was when she realized she wouldn't be getting a digimon or a digivice. That Kari was ment as the eight digidestined, not her.

"But why didn't you try to contact us? We're in the digiworld all the time." (Joe)

"And say what? Hi, remember me? The person that was left behind."

"Yes."

Matt is still upset, and Hien looks at him with pain in her eyes.

"Do you know how we felt when you died? When we left? You should have contacted us."

"Don't guilt her into anything. She made her choice."

Kari tense up as the door opens and the digimon walkes out. Gatomon run passed everyone and into his arms.

"Wizardmon."

"Good to see you again Gatomon."

"When did you? I mean..."

Wizardmon and Hien share a look, then she nods and gives a smal smile.

"The control spires that Ken created were filled with computerdata. Some from the human world, and some from the digiworld. One of the spires had my code, and later when BlackWarGreymon was created, that spire happened to be one of the spires he was created from. When BlackWarGreymon sacrificed himself, my data was let go, and I was able to be reborn."

"Wow." (me)

"Fascinating."

Izzi walks over to Wizardmon and starts to poke him. Tentomon flies over to him and tries to drag him away.

"Don't be rude Izzi."

"But Tentomon, you have to admit that it's fascinating."

"I'm sorry."

Suddenly everyone lookes at Ken. He is bowing toward Wizardmon.

"I'm sorry for all the trouble I've caused you."

"Don't be sorry. If you hadn't created the towers I would never have been able to be reborn. If you want to apologize to anyone it should be Hien. She's the one you attacked when you were the emperor."

"I'm truly sorry Hien."

"It's okay."

Hien smiles before walking toward him, stopping just a few feet away.

"I don't hold a grudge, so you can forgive yourself now."

He looks surprised at her and she laughs.

"I recognise myself in you, and I know how corny that sounds. And you won't forgive yourself unless people remind you to."

For a brief moment I'm sure that I can see the crest of kindness glow in both of them, but then again. She turnes to the others and smiles to them.

"I'm alive and I'm fine."

"You might be, but Tai isn't."

She looks confused at Matt. I had forgotten why we where there. Kari lets go of me and walks over to her, grabbing her hands.

"Can you talk to him, please."

"Why? What's wrong with him?"

"He thinks he left a man behind."

Hien looks from Matt, to Kari, to the rest of us. Then she turnes to Izzi.

"Can I travel without a digivice?"

He just nods. Then she looks at Wizardmon, and I know what that look mean. Fear. I had to say something to convince her, so I walk over.

"We just want you to talk to him, and then you can do what you want."

Hien finally nods.

"Okay. Let me just get a jacket."

She walks through the crowed and into the house. I look over at Matt, and he looks relived. Then a scream. I knew it was too easy. Hien is running out the back of her house, toward the lake. Away from us. Out of the house chasing her is a bright red kuwagamon. Over her two more. The one chasing her moved in to attack aa Hien trips, holding her hands over her head to cover it. Before any of us could react, Tapirmon, Biyomon and Wizardmon starts to run to her aid. They cover each side of her, before Tapirmon and Biyomon evolve into Apemon and Birdramon. In three short moves, Wizardmon's thunder cloud, Apemon's bone rod and Birdramon's meteor wing, the kuwagamon were history. Apemon and Birdramon devolved before both of them almost jumps Hien.

"Are you hurt?"

"Did they hurt you?"

"You're hurt aren't you?"

"You're not hurt are you?"

All Hien did was smile and hug the two digimon before grabbing Wizardmon's hand.

"I'm fine. Thank you. And you two, listen to Wizardmon while I'm gone."

"Do we have to?"

"We don't need a digi-sitter."

Hien laughs and hugs them again.

"Yes you do. So play nice."

She gets up and brush herself. Then looks at us.

"I'm ready."

--

It would have been too much with everyone going to the bar, so we decided on Matt, Joe and me. Matt was the obvious choice, Joe was the only other person old enough to go to a bar, and I happened to look like someone Matt and Joe had to babysit. As we walk down toward the bar, Matt and Joe first, us second, Hien is quiet and concentrated. Now and then she looks around.

"What are you looking at?"

Patamon fly up and is now flying between our heads.

"The city. A lot has changed since we left."

I had forgotten that she had been in the digiworld since she was ten.

"You want to visit your family?"

She shakes her head.

"I just want to do this, and go home."

She looks down on the pavement. Patamon fly up toward me so I grabb him and start to carry him. He still can't fly that fast.

"Juliet was only thirteen when she married Romeo. In the play. Did you know that?"

I shake my head.

"Do you think it's possible to love someone so much when you're just a kid. To fall in love so much that you are forever bound to that person even if you are parted. Do you think that it's possible that we are never so in love in people as we are when we are kids?"

I don't think she expects me to answer. Matt and Joe stopp in front of a bar.

"Are you ready?"

"Can I say no?"

I know it is meant as a joke, just as much as it isn't. We walk in and the six of us walk over to a booth. Tai is sitting in the booth across from us, and Agumon is sitting next to him. I knew they would make up. Hien stands in the door a second, before walking over to the booth and sitting down opposite Tai.

"Tai."

He looks up and right at her, but I doubt he sees her as real.

"Tai it's me. Hien."

"You look well. You've done something with your hair?"

He doesn't believe it's her. He thinks he's just imagining her. Hien grabs his hands and he lookes down at them with tears in his eyes.

"Your hands are cold."

"And your's are warm Tai."

She lookes at Agumon and says something to him. Then looks at Tai.

"You have to forgive yourself Tai. I'm not mad at you."

"I left you."

"No, I left you. And I'm not mad at you anymore. You have to move on Tai. You have to forgive yourself Tai."

"I..."

"For me Tai. I would be so sad knowing that you were hurting. You have to forgive yourself, for my sake."

Then she turnes to Agumon.

"You can take him now."

Agumon jumps up on the table, jumpes down on the floor and grabs Tai's hand. Amazingly Tai gets up and starts to walk, but when he passes Hien he bends down and kiss her. Then the two of them leave. Matt and Gabumon run after them. Hien sits by the table, her hands covering her face, clearly crying. Joe, Gomamon, Patamon and I walk over to see that she's fine. She's not. She's crying so hard she's actually coughing. Gomamon jumps up on the table and starts hitting her back. She stops coughing and starts gasping for breath. Joe squats down beside her and looks at her.

"T.K, get a paper bag. You're having a panic attack Hien."

I walk over to the bartender and he gives me a bag no questions asked. I give it to Joe who place it over her mouth and nose.

"Breath normally."

"You better do as he tells you."

She looks at me, but does as Joe says. Soon her breathing is down to normal, and she looks at us with pain in her eyes.

"Can I go home now?"

Joe smile and help her up.

"Thank you."

She gives us a small smile before the door opens again and an out of breath Tai stands there with Agumon behind him. He stares at her and she give him a faint smile back.

"Hi."

"You're alive?"

She nods. He seems shocked and confused.

"Just checking."

Then they leave.

--

"Why do you think Hien never got a digivice?"

"I don't know, but Izzi is sure he can make her one. If she wants to."

"Why wouldn't she want one?"

Kari puts in the DVD and walks back to the sofa, falling down next to me. Leaning into my arms as she always does.

"I don't know. She has lived all alone in the digiworld since she was ten. She doesn't see our world as her home anymore."

"But still"

"I know, but I think we have to reach out to her. Not expect her to reach out to us."

"Tai asked Izzi for her location yesterday. I think he wants to reach out."

I nod, but the look on Hien's face keep playing before my eyes. Then I look at the back of Kari's head. The movie starts and she's moving to the music. _Do you think that it's possible that we are never so in love in people as we are when we are kids?_ I grab her hand and she grabs it back willingly. I love Kari, I even told her that. She said she loved me back. But is it love, or love? And what is the difference?

"I love you."

I have known her since we were eight, and my feelings for her have never changed. But could that just mean that loving someone as a kid and loving someone as a teenager just ment wanting different things, not feeling differently? She turns and kiss me. Her lips are warm and soft and gentil. Then she turns around and continue to watch the movie like nothing was different.

"I love you too, now don't interrupt Tai says this scene is key."

And I don't think they are.


End file.
